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The Yelp Inc. application is seen in the App Store on an iPhone. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

In the pre-Internet days, what people could learn about you and your company was pretty limited. We’re talking Yellow Pages and word-of-mouth type of limited.

Today, the buying process couldn’t be more different. And look, I get it. It can be uncomfortable to admit how much your business is affected by its online reputation, especially if what’s out there is irrelevant or negative.

But the fact is, your online presence does matter. If you’re in a client or investor-facing role, networked recently, or gave out your business card, you should absolutely assume you’re being Googled. Not only that, but clients, employees and investors are making decisions based on what they find online.

Each of the following online reputation red flags can have a negative impact on a business’ bottom line. See which ones apply to you and then follow the included tips to help mitigate their impact and get your business back on track.

You Have Negative Search Results

When it comes to your digital reputation, search results are really just the tip of the iceberg. But they are worth your attention because they offer a first impression about you and your business. That’s nothing to sneeze at: 65% of people see online search as the most trusted source of information about people and companies.

Unfortunately, negative online first impressions are incredibly common -- nearly 50% of US adults who Google themselves say the results aren’t positive.

How is that possible? Well, consider the fact that anyone can say anything about you online without getting in trouble, whether it’s true or not. That includes disgruntled clients, someone you fired, or someone you used to date. The problem compounds when you realize that everything we do is now recorded online forever, including old lawsuits, negative press, and the like.

The latest research shows that businesses risk losing 22% of business when potential customers find one negative article on the first page of search results. That number increases to 44% lost business with two negative articles, and 59% with three negative articles.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Sure, but I get most of my business from referrals. So how much could this really matter for me?”

Fair enough, but where do you think clients go as soon as they get your name? (I’ll tell you: Google.)

And it makes sense, right? We’re accustomed to living in a world where if we need more info, we resort to using the web. As soon as clients get your name, they do their due diligence and look you up online to learn more about you.

If you do have irrelevant or negative results showing up, you should absolutely assume it’s affecting your bottom line. Read this guide to learn more about pushing down negative results, and use this rubric to measure the ROI of implementing an online reputation management campaign for your business.

You Are Misrepresented By Negative Reviews

We all have a story about that one crazy client or disgruntled ex-employee. (You know the one I’m talking about.)

The problem is that even after you’ve gone your separate ways, the ghosts of those strained relationships can come back to haunt you.

Take, for instance, irate customers who share their experiences on platforms like Yelp and Google Reviews. Or ex-employees who vent anonymously on recruitment platforms like Glassdoor and Indeed.

Business owners have long complained of an inherently negative review bias on anonymous review platforms, where the angry and upset are more likely to organically volunteer their thoughts than their satisfied counterparts.

Unfortunately, business owners have more than an unfair reputation to worry about. Businesses that don’t proactively correct for this negative bias are likely to suffer monetarily as well.

Consider this: 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and a 1-star increase has been shown to increase revenue by 5% to 9%.

For that reason, negative reviews can be particularly frustrating for business owners whose review platforms only seem to serve as a megaphone for a vocal minority of dissatisfied customers.

Without a strategic plan in place, it can be particularly difficult to overcome unrepresentative and biased online reviews. Here is an in-depth guide to improving your client-facing review platforms (like Google and Yelp) and here is a blueprint for improving your recruitment review platforms (like Indeed and Glassdoor).

You Don’t Produce Digital Content

If you’re still putting content initiatives on the back burner, you’ll want to seriously reconsider.

The reason is simple: buyers progress more than 70% of the way through the decision-making process before ever engaging a sales representative. If you’re so focused on pricing, discounts, and sales tactics, then you’ll miss the first 70% of the sales cycle and wonder why your pipeline isn’t filling up any faster.

The list goes on, but the point is this: when asked why buyers selected the winning vendor over others, 75% said the winning vendor’s content had a significant impact on their buying decisions.

This trend isn’t reversing any time soon. More than half (51%) of B2B buyers say they rely more on content now to research their buying decisions than they did a year ago. Businesses that ignore customers' increasing reliance on the Internet risk making the same mistake Blockbusters made years ago.

Don’t let the daunting task of digitally engaging with your customers paralyze you from getting the right ideas in front of the right audience. It’s too big a risk: companies that don’t engage buyers during that research stage risk losing buyer awareness and ultimately, sales opportunities.

A business is nothing without attention. You could have the right people selling the right product at the right price point, but none of that matters if people never hear about you in the first place.

If you’re like many businesses, you go to great pains to get the word out about your company, spending big bucks on marketing and advertising campaigns only to forget about the biggest opportunity for attention right under your nose.

I’m talking about your employees.

Each of your employees has a network of people who care deeply about what he or she has to say. That’s why brand messages shared by employees on social media get 561% more reach than the same messages shared by the brand’s social media channels. And content shared by employees receives 8 times more engagement than content shared by brand channels.

Of course, the importance of employee advocacy is not just in earning awareness and staying top of mind, but also in filling pipelines and closing deals. The data shows that leads developed through employees’ social media activities convert 7 times more frequently than other leads.

With such a dramatic impact on lead generation and close rate, you can bet that companies that nurture their employees into brand advocates are beating out those that don’t.